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The Pythagoreans were reputed, whether rightly or wrongly, to be a shamanistic cult which jealously guarded the higher mysteries of mathematical knowledge to maintain social power and political influence in their day.

Of course they weren't as advanced as we are; so we have every confidence that the liberal spirit of scientific inquiry to which our technology establishment nobly aspires will prevail over puling self-interest in the case of a remarkably large prime number used to encode the infamous, and illegal, DeCSS utility with which DVD encryption can be defeated (and the entire entertainment industry annihilated, we're warned).

Mathematician Phil Carmody worked it out, and in so doing discovered a prime number over one thousand digits in length, which qualifies it as a worthy object of inquiry in and of itself.

The question, of course, is whether an interesting number is illegal merely because it can be used to encode a contraband program. We don't know, but imagine the entertainment industry will regard it as knowledge far too dangerous for the general run of mankind to be trusted with.